1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a new and improved hat, and more particularly to a hat with a foldable visor which can be tucked into the shell of the hat and wherein the hat includes a draw string around the perimeter of the shell to convert the hat to a purse when the visor is tucked in the shell.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Hats have been used for many years and are found in many shapes and sizes. Hats are used as sun shades, to repel the weather and often simply for aesthetic purposes. A popular hat is the baseball-style cap. The baseball cap typically comprises a shell, a visor attached to an edge of the shell to shade the user, and an adjustment system along the edge of the shell to allow for changing the size of the hat. The shell is typically made of a flexible material. The visor is typically made of a rigid material and extends substantially perpendicularly away from the shell to provide shade for the user's face.
When hats are worn for any of their many uses, the user often desires to remove the hat but keep the hat available for later use. If the user is participating in an activity at the time he takes the hat off, such as hiking or other sports, conveniently storing the hat for later use can pose a significant problem.
Most hats must simply be carried by hand or in some type of carrier when not in use. Carrying a hat by hand subjects the hat to damage from exposure to dirt or physical damage such as being crushed or otherwise deformed. Using a carrier for a hat is inconvenient for the active user. Storing hats while not in use is a recognized problem, indicated by the numerous attempts by inventors to provide a hat that is conveniently storable and portable.
Attempts to create hats that are able to be reduced to a convenient size have concentrated on rolling the hats into a roll, folding visors in one or a plurality of locations, and also folding both the visor and the shell together. U.S. Pat. No. 1,213,447 issued to R. H. Bacon in 1917 discloses a visor made up of separate sections held together by pliable hinge strips. The visor is foldable to a reduced size, but still must be placed somewhere for storage, and provides no extra functionality when in its reduced size.
U.S. Pat. No. 625,776 issued to C. H. Von Klein in 1899 discloses a hat that has a foldable body and a visor that is hinged at one place to fold over on itself. While the hat is able to be reduced in size, the shape of the hat in its reduced size is as difficult to store as the hat in its normal state.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,718,867 issued to S. Mahlmann in 1926 provides a hat with a foldable eyeshade that extends down over the user's eyes. The visor is foldable but the rest of the hat must simply be folded in any manner with the visor for storage.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,158,861 issued to M. Meyer in 1937 discloses a hat where the body is foldable but the visor remains in a rigid crescent shape. The size of the hat when folded is smaller than when in use, but the rigid visor impedes the adequate reduction of size necessary for convenient storage.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,493,500 issued to E. Rankin in 1947 discloses a fedora style hat that has a diagonally foldable body. When in its folded position, the height of the hat is reduced but the overall size of the hat is not substantially changed.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,765,472 issued to W. Schoen-Wolski provides a hat where both the visor and body are foldable and are reduced into a long strip of material. The result is a peculiar looking hat with no functionality in its reduced size.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,549,316 issued to Johnson in 1985 provides a baseball cap with a visor that is foldable only along its centerline. The shell of the hat is not reduced in size, and is presumably left to be exposed to dirt and physical damage when the folded bill is placed in the user's back pocket.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,682,373 issued to Baran in 1987 provides a fedora style hat that is able to be rolled up for storage purposes. As with all of the other inventions, this invention provides no means to store the hat, or to provide portability once the hat is reduced in size and stored.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,694,506 issued to Perna in 1987 discloses an eyeshade made of a visor and a separate head band connected by tape that is able to be folded and stored in one's purse or pocket. The eyeshade is complicated and provides no extra functionality when in its folded position.
Hats that are foldable have a similar problem as hats that are not foldable in that once they are folded they must be placed somewhere for easy storage and provides for convenient portability. None of the attempts has resulted in a hat that is able to be reduced in size for convenient storage and portability.
In addition, the structural modifications that make folding the hat possible also detrimentally affect the aesthetics of the hat when in use. The differences are seen in the visor of the hat, where folds and creases are conspicuously apparent.
Another concern in the use of storable hats is that once the hat has been reduced to its smaller size for storage, it no longer provides any useable function. The hat, when folded and ready for storage, is only an article to place somewhere; it has no function of its own.
The problems of making a hat convertible to a conveniently carried form, providing a way to carry the hat once it is reduced to its smaller size, and providing a hat with functionality when in its storable form have not been successfully resolved. It is to overcome these shortcomings in the prior art that the present invention was developed.